Classic Jags Meet In The Rain – A Very Wet Cars & Coffee in Tokyo

Typical isn’t it? When there’s a meet where the theme is “Jaguar E-Type and Classic Jaguars” the Japanese spring weather decides to turn, well rather British. But hey, who doesn’t seeing a wet Jaaaaaag every now and then?

Despite the grey, drizzly, and somewhat depressing looking morning, there were still eager folks who showed up. Surprisingly four E-Types came to the event as well as several older XJs. Interestingly there were a couple of F-Types too, including a new SVR.

I’ve only seen a coupe previously but that was Jaguar Land Rover Japan’s car. Actually so was this Roadster but let’s gloss over that. It was great for JLR Japan to bring one along and it certainly stirred a bit of interest from the Jaguar fans there. With 600hp/441kW from its 5.0-litre supercharged V8, it’s a good thing the SVR has all-wheel drive.

The event was held to coincide with 55th anniversary of the E-Type’s launch at the 1961 Geneva Motor Show. To celebrate this, Jaguar Land Rover recreated the badge that was on the original car’s steering wheel. Only 150 were made worldwide, with 10 allocated for Japan. There were three for sale at Daikanyama.

As cool as the SVR and those badges were, I was more interested in the E-Types. The green Series 1 3.8 Coupe (hence the “138” plate) was by far my favourite. The Series 1 is about as perfect as E-Types get. Well, perhaps it’d have been more perfect if it was roadster. But in British Racing Green with the wire spoke wheels, I’d do nasty things for one.

The other green E-Type Coupe, which I think was a 4.2, didn’t have wire spokes but instead steel wheels similar to the E-Type Lightweight. Interestingly it also had fender-mounted mirrors. Next to it was a E-Type 2+2. I always thought these were awkward looking things. The proportions were never as achingly pretty as the S1.

The fourth E-Type was an yellowish S3 Roadster with a V12. If you look closely at the number plate you’ll see it only has two numbers at the top, meaning it’s probably been owned by the same person for at least a couple of decades. Judging from the condition of the car it’s definitely been babied.

That’s something you notice very quickly at any meet in Japan; most cars and especially classics are very well looked after. It’s very much in the mindset of Japanese people to look after things well.

So with that in mind, I cannot for the life of me justify or understand the reasoning behind putting racing stripes with ‘C-X16’ on a F-Type. That was definitely one of the standout cars of this meet for me. The champagne-silver XK next to it was a nice little treat too. I forgot how good these things look, and I’ve been a fan since seeing one in that movie ‘Entrapment’ with Catherine Zeta-Jones.

Anyway…. I probably should’ve taken more photos of the other Jags there too but it was wet and cold and I wanted to go indoors. Maybe next time then.

Words cannot begin to describe how much I love cars but it's worth a try. Grew up obsessed with them and want to pursue a career writing about them. Anything from small city cars to the most exotic of supercars will catch my attention.